First time buying a gaming headset. Suggestions? (THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE RESPONSES!)

those look very good.
i would personally prefer wireless.

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I use them with the sound card I listed above and it’s unbelievably good!

Yes, I would have gotten SteelSeries headsets if I was not already so invested into the Razer ecosystem. I had been using Razer mice since 2006 when I got the first Deathadder (I still have it!) and a few years back they were giving away free software licenses for the Razer Surround Pro, I think it was in 2012-3 which I registered for because I was on the Razer Synapse platform for my 2nd Deathadder and the first Razer Naga. Since then, I have bought yet another Deathadder Chroma (non-Elite), a new Razer Naga (elite), Razer Orbweaver and a wireless Mamba for my daughter).
(Recently, I also bought the Razer Basilisk for fun and the Nommos to replace my Corsair SP2500 which died, I am using an Auzentek x-fi Prelude soundcard for the past 8+years).

So while I loved SteelSeries, having bought the Siberia ProV6, I decided to just get the Razer Thresher because of the ecosystem. Both the PS4 & XB1 versions work for the PC, no issues.

https://www2.razer.com/ap-en/gaming-audio/razer-thresher-for-playstation-4

For SteelSeries, I did not recommend the wireless versions to Egg because he mentioned his budget but here they are:

My daughter likes her Razer Kraken ProV2… mainly because of the cat ears…(she has the green ones)

If I were to compare, SteelSeries build quality and comfort trumps Razer’s at the mid-range and possibly high range. Audio quality is pretty much on par. Their Mic may be better than Razer’s.

Just one more piece of advice, Egg.

You would want to consider the comfort factor for your new cans especially if you wear glasses and/or game for hours on end. Look for those with “double” headbands if you can because they would fit better and not place too much undue stress on the top of your head and the sides of your ears.

I had a lot of gaming headsets, never really had studio ones, they mostly came from sponsors, but this meant that I experimented pretty much every headset from plantronics, steelseries, razor and hyperx.
Even comparing to the 200$ ones, I still use my cloud 2’s, I’m thinking of getting the alpha’s to replace them, just so you realize, I have the cloud 2’s since a bit before they released to the public, they are really durable. And sound wise they are just the best, I tried to find a better headset but honestly, within 200$ price range, there just isn’t from what I tried.

I know there are studio headphones that are way better, so if you are willing to buy those, go for that. Otherwise I really recommend the cloud.

About 7.1, never used it and the sound feels way worse with it enabled. I have my speakers if I need 7.1, I don’t really advise buying surround headphones. I’m with the guys that say that’s all marketing :stuck_out_tongue:

They are comfortable, never had an issue, the packaging was great as well, altho I really didn’t use the bag once. I know there’s a lot of people saying the alphas sound better but have comfort issues with them, apparently it hurts the ears, you might wanna look into that if you go for the alpha instead of cloud 2’s. The cloud 2’s have great sound isolation as well, you can’t hear the background noises at all.

The only thing lackluster about it is the mic, it’s not “bad” per say, but it’s not good either. It does have a good echo cancellation, I never had any issues with people hearing my keyboard or anything, my girlfriend usually comes by and says stuff out loud and they don’t even hear her on discord. It’s just the quality itself could be better.

You should change the title of this thread back, Egg.

It’s a good thread! Also if people are in the same boat and looking for a new pair of headphones or have any questions, there’s some good info in your thread here that’ll help everyone out :slight_smile:

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Agreed. If people bother to do a search, it is a good thread for reference.

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For those who are already happy users of a good headsets, have you done the surround sound test in practice mode? Tried turning on/off the game Atmos/headset surround mode to check the difference?

Not gonna lie, Hyper X Clouds or Steel Series Arctis headphones are good enough even when you do get your own PC. No need to go any higher realistically. Both offer great build quality, great warranties, and superior sound. $90 for a pair of headphones should be the highest average gamers should spend. Anything more is overkill and overpriced.

Thanks for all of your responses! I’m probably going to just get a the cloud 2, but I’ll probably upgrade later, cuz I have to share this PC with my brother currently

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Enjoy your new cans, Egg and have fun, always. =)

You too, really appreciated your help :wink: in the future, when i have my own PC, do you think it’s worth buying a more expensive headset?

Buying a separate mic with separate headphones will get you better sound quality for the same price. You lose out on some convenience though. Also with any headphones look at the frequency response & impedance charts. This will show you how modified the lows, mids, and highs are. A flat EQ means you will hear things more like the way sounds were recorded. Typically for games you want something with louder lows for more bass (“fun headphones”)

My first gaming headset was a Razer Kraken 7.1 sound was good, mic quality was good, and the price was decent for what I got. After it broke I had to get a cheap $20 headset and I hate this thing and am looking forward to when I can get another razer headset or a hyper x headset.
this thing I’m wearing right now is so uncomfortable and has a real crappy mic.

Thanks for asking, Egg and you always Welcome.

I saw you change your title back. Wonderful! I hope that it would be a good reference resource for the community. I would like this to my thread about PC rigs, if you don’t mind so that people can toggle between the two?

Ok, well, the Kingston HyperX Cloud 2 is a really good headset:

I think that it really depends on how far into the future you are looking at and if you are still playing competitive games. For me personally, when i get a gaming peripheral, i typically look into at least 3 years’ worth of usage and to see if it can be multi-functional. The Cloud 2 looks to be a decent headset for both gaming and music on the go and from what little i have read off forums while researching for my own headsets and my daughter’s, the Cloud 2 is durable.

So, to answer your answer, i guess that you should only change if you have a discreet sound card or DAC because the Cloud 2 would not be able to fully bring out the audio ability of the sound card or DAC. If you are using onboard sound chips, then probably the Cloud 2 would still be serviceable.

I have a Corsair Void Wireless, and can only say that I really like it when it works. It’s one of those headsets with its own driver and auxiliary program, meaning you have a lot of control over the sound you get, with a toggle for stereo vs. Dolby surround (makes a big difference IMO) and EQ sliders.

Downside is that having its own driver and program means it has a boot time and can crash. Yes, your headset can crash independently of your computer and you have to restart it and the program potentially while in the middle of a game. For this reason I would not personally buy it again, but as I said, 99% of the time it works fine and has a ton of audio features to play with, not to mention a battery that lasts all day and solid range throughout my apartment.

I got the HyperX Cloud 2. I had heard good things, and some bad reviews of the Razer models cinched the deal.

So far it’s been good. Decent build, fairly comfortable (I have large ears).
Friends say mic quality is excellent (I.e., they can hear me).

Before that I used a desk mic and speakers.

Yes, having their own drivers and software can be an issue due to memory leakage and incompatibility with other software running the background.

That is why it is often advised to monitor the RAM usage when possible as well as have as little background software running when working or gaming seriously.

That is why i stick to just one platform as much as i can, in this case it would be Razer because i have been using it since 2006.

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What about the mic quality, is it good? And silenthill, I wouldn’t mind it at all if you linked this i think that’s a great idea!

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Thanks, Egg. Linking. =)